On a bike ride this week I was reminded of an issue that had occupied the Albany neighborhood east of I-5 and south of Knox Butte Road: Whether to close a public walkway between houses or keep it open.
The question has been settled, at least for now. The walkway, an unimproved alley that had been boarded up by neighbors fed up with it as a nuisance, has been reopened.
This 10-foot-wide alley runs north from Southeast Willamette Avenue to Linn Avenue, and from there to Knox Butte Road, where it opens up on a shallow ditch and then the shoulder of the county road…